The Amiga CD32 : Better than you've been lead to believe

The CD32 didn't set the world on fire, but it was actually a decent console.
Just one that didn't get the time it needed to really shine.
So lets take a look at its hardware and software and leave the history behind.
#amiga #cd32 #AMayGA
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:20 Console overview
01:50 Technical Specs
03:28 Controller
04:22 Firmware
05:40 Media
06:47 Games
22:10 Upgrades
25:06 Wrap up

[@paulgibson1700]

Really good retrospective, not the usual "let's dump on the CD32 for killing Commodore" laziness that we see from some others. I owned and loved my CD32 back in the day but I have to admit, in hindsight that it wasn't a very well thought out release. I'm not saying it was a cash grab due to Commodore's mounting debts but it being not very different from the A1200, only having 1KB of save space, (was the PSU labelled for the C65), and having a poor joypad (well the d-pad anyway) suggests they were definitely doing the usual Commodore cutting corners. I can see some logic in releasing a console which in theory would not be as susceptible to piracy, since back when it was released piracy was one of the many problems hurting micros, we were still a number of years from CD writers being anywhere near affordable so the CD format would have seemed safe at the time. It was maybe short-sighted to assume piracy won't be possible just because the CD writing technology was at the time too expensive so they didn't put any anti-piracy measures into the console but piracy didn't kill the CD32, Commodore were already gone by the time pirating CD32 games became common. As a teenager none of those things mattered at release, as an A500 owner I was very pleased to get a CD32 for the upgrade, for AGA, for the load times and to eliminate disk swapping, even for the CD player. Even though I contributed to the piracy problem with my A500, it didn't bother me that I now owned a console where realistically I couldn't "acquire" games in the same way. I was initially wowed at things like Liberation, I watched that intro so many times, although I was disappointed with Oscar, thought Diggers was just about adequate and Nigel Mansell's wasn't really stretching the CD32. Not having many games for it at the beginning I did fully immerse myself into Liberation, reading the manual from cover to cover multiple times and really taking my time to explore the world and talk to as many NPCs as possible. From memory I think I did find the first person you are looking for but I recall being disappointed that it just drops you back into essentially the same world looking for someone else and with so limited save game space on the console I'm not sure I persevered much after that. I built up quite a large collection of original games as the Amiga brand started waning and games started to become very cheap to pick up. It was disappointing that so many games were direct ports with very little and sometime even no changes other than it being on a CD but who can blame the developers? It was essentially an A1200 with a CD drive and not much else different, the Amiga was dying and devs were having to make hard decisions in other areas. Why not make some quick and easy CD32 ports and try to earn some money from very little outlay. I'll still treasure my current CD32 and the original games I kept. I've upgraded the console with the TF330, a CF card, the riser, a keyboard and the KTRL32 joypad. It could maybe do with a recap and potentially a laser replacement but it can do the job for now and the CD32 in general has a special place in my heart.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Yeah the history around the machine is interesting, but I feels overshadows the actual machine. so I wanted to look at it, what it could do. its impossible not to see how some of the history screwed it up, but its not the "worst machine ever" that some would make you believe.

[@jochenheizmann4380]

I also loved my CD32 back then. BTW: The CD32 had also the so-called AKIKO Chip which the A1200 didn't have. The chip offered some simple 'chunky-to-planar' graphics conversion in hardware. Not many games used it, but I think Wing Commander made great use it.

[@stickyfox]

this was a period in history when all the game companies were going crazy with new generations so rapidly that they forgot about the customers who'd spent money on the old ones. Sega and Atari suffered the same fate. It got to where by the time you finished saving up for that new Saturn game, the Dreamcast was already out.

[@TheFusedplug]

​@@jochenheizmann4380 Akiko chip was sophisticated enough to enter against the forthcoming consoles it's only the lack oF FAST RAM as standard that kicked CD32 in the nuts but development experience would have worked around this. Commodore buy out fell through which guaranteed the eventual fail David Pleasance would have made sure that the CD32 strived well into the future enough to compete against the PS 1 because the cd1200 would have happened too which would have meant more likelyhood of fast ram requirement software and Ram expansions availability more cheaper for the CD32 imo

[@subtledemisefox]

​@@stickyfoxcomputer technology was still growing exponentially at the time. Can't blame them for trying to be cutting edge. Hindsight is 20/20 though.

[@andersdenkend]

I remember the CD³² very fondly and had a blast with it back then. Later I bought the SX-1 Expansion thingy and enjoyed it as basically an A1200 with CD-Drive. I can't recount how many times I watched that Microcosm intro video or played that very weird and seemingly unknown game "Prey" on it. I was just so amazed by the FMV. Kinda ridiculous looking back, but either way. Fun times. The 256 color Wing Commander version was a pleasant surprise as well and Guardian was great, too.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Oh wow you had the SX1, nice! Closest I've ever gotten is having a floppy disk with SX1 on the label, not even sure what's on it 😁 The FMV at the time was mind blowing, it really did look like it could be the future or atleast a major part of gaming. I've heard of Prey, a few people mentioned it on the Doom video. Been meaning to give it a go.

[@andersdenkend]

@@GouldFishOnGames Well, it's not... really good. Hehe.

[@markinscotland]

Fantastic nostalgic look back! And nice to see that you're looking back at the machine in a more positive light, unlike other videos :) I still remember the hype for Christmas day when I got mine, followed by the disappointment when it didn't start up on Christmas morning! A few weeks later and a replacement came, and I popped in Liberation and was blown away by the movie-like intro. And like you, when the game started I had no idea what I was doing ;) Ultimately I spent more time on it from connecting it up to my Amiga 1200 using a cable (which plugged into the keyboard port, interestingly!) and having access to the thousands of files available on those Aminet CDs and various other CD collections.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

I try to be positive about everything I look at, as I find all those negative, hating, angry channels a bit much. its not to say you can't point out issues, but a machine isn't just problems. Its a real shame that your original unit didn't work, I can imagine how gutting that would have been. Not heard about that cable that uses the keyboard port, that sounds really interesting and I guess it must be using the serial side of it.

[@Tech-geeky]

These videos are either positive or negative, but never looking at both sides I prefer a bit of both (50/50)

[@ScrapKing73]

I bought (and still have) a CD32. And I’m in Canada, so I have one of the rare NTSC units. I had a lot of fun with it!

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Nice on getting one of the NTSC models, the whole story around them was so typical of Commodore.

[@RetroBytesUK]

Its always good to see a video about the CD32. It was commodores last throw of the dice, and while it was a good machine Commodore completely bungled it, and got most their stock held at customs due to a fight with a patent troll, and where it was selling like hot cakes (e.g. here in the UK) had no stock for retailers to sell. The little shop I worked at had 100's on back order that Christmas that we could not full fill in time, so we had to refund them.

[@johnsmith1953x]

Commodore was sued in the USA and could not sell the CD32 in the USA due to court injunctions. This killed them.

[@RetroBytesUK]

@@johnsmith1953x Yep, they really should not have tried to move stock into the US while that suit was going in on. The court order that froze a hugh chunk of CD32s, and distruped the supply of CD32s to every other market was very predicable given where they where in the law suit. It was an incredibly dumb decision to try and bring them into the US until that was settled. That's also what triggered their issues in the Philippines, which was the final straw for commodore unfortunately.

[@ArttuTheCat]

When i was a teenager back in the 1993/1994 - i was 10 years old by that time - I saw the pictures of the CD32 games in The One Amiga magazine. At first, it sounded cool, but then, i figured out that it was not as popular as the original Amiga 500. The same thing happened to the Commodore CDTV. Some games on both CD consoles are awesome 😺👍🕹️. The only games, i would like to play on Amiga CD32, are... - DEFENDER OF THE CROWN II - LIBERATION: CAPTIVE II - SIMON THE SORCERER - UFO: ENEMY UNKNOWN Thanx for an awesome retrospective Amiga video. 😺👍🕹️

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Yeah I remember seeing the articles in the magazines and really wanting one. I had a mate who had one and it was so amazing, as it was a console that was also a step up from my A500+ It just needed the time to let the dev's get to grips with it, but it never got it. Thanks for watching!

[@ArttuTheCat]

@@GouldFishOnGames No problem 😺👍🕹️.

[@Oribaa90]

Nice video! Today I bought my first ever CD32 on ebay. I am so excited to finally have it in my console collection. Can't wait to test it!

[@ridiculous_gaming]

As you mentioned, many of the games were simply the original versions with an FMV intro, which the CD32 shared with the Sega CD.

[@jmclauren]

Excellent and interesting retrospective with focus on what the CD32 was capable of. I got mine CD32, probably in 1994 and used it companion with my A1200 as both gaming console and CD-rom reader. I used a serial cable though and a software for accessing the CD32. The expansion would hav been a great upgrader but there were never available AFIK in Sweden and compatible keyboard was too expensive. Kudos to your very well produced video too. Good sound, tempo and pedagogical structure.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Thanks, really happy you enjoyed the video. I hadn't heard of anyone using the CD32 as a cdrom drive for a A1200 via a serial cable. I can't imagine it was fast, but I guess a better option then trying to buy the expansions.

[@grinbrothers]

The 5th Generation of consoles has long been a fascinating one for me (a last hoorah for multiple companies trying to establish themselves as one of the big 2 or 3 consoles), and as someone who grew up with an Amiga, the CD32 has an even greater intrigue to it. I do love hearing it talked about and the title implies some appreciated positivity to the system. 2:36 - The examples do a wonderful job of showcasing the CD32's strong colour palette. Seeing Bubble & Squeak, the first video game I ever played, is also lovely. 4:07 - The slightly larger button gives a bit of a GameCube feel to the face buttons, which is always compliment. I do like the raised positioning of the shoulder buttons. I can only comment on using the A500 Mini's more refined take on this controller (which certainly has a better D-Pad) but I do like this controller. The symbols for each button are really odd though. 5:13 - I've seen several CD32 videos before and none have demonstrated this save feature aspect. I never knew you could lock the save data; rather cool. 5:56 - I do like the distinctiveness of these tall Microprose boxes. They stand out without being too bulky like the standard Amiga boxes (though said boxes are pretty awesome). 8:45 - Yeah, the main comparison to Guardians I've heard is Defender. I do like the look to the game; it's lacking textures but I think that adds some charm, especially with how bright and vivid the ship and landscape looks. It's got a rather clean look for the most part. 13:24 - You can certainly hear the difference with this remastered Dizzy entry compared to the others. Does the remastered entry also adjust the control scheme so jump is a button, or is it also Up on the D-Pad like the ported games on the disc? 16:25 - Rather funny hearing "load times are fast" being applied to an early disc console, though the Amiga was going from floppy to CD rather than the usual case of cartridge to CD. I've heard plenty of high praises for Flink here. 23:50 - So I suppose the expansion port would have also allowed for more data storage; a rather bulky memory card system if you will. 25:35 - Ultimately, the prior cash problems for Commodore was the main reason for the CD32's demise. The console otherwise could have gone pretty well until the 1995 releases of the Saturn and PlayStation, which could have given enough time to secure an install base and either plan out a short life extending expansion or a follow-up console (that I hear was being worked on via the Hombre chip). At least, that's how I think things could have worked out but it's hard to say given how much of an impact Commodore's financial issues had on their decision making process throughout the 90's.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Yeah I've always found that gen interesting with all the weird consoles that tried to come out. It was always a shame that Commodore was in such financial issues (caused by those running the company more then anything), as I think it could have stuck around for a few more years. I wanted to make this video as way too many tended to focus on the history around the machine or the "bad" games for the machine. I felt like it needed to be shown off fully and in a better light and I'm happy that you've picked up on much of that with your comments.

[@grinbrothers]

Also, I never knew that the Amiga was originally intended to be a games console at first, so that's another cool bit of info your video informed me of. I think you did a delightful job highlighting the good things about the console.@@GouldFishOnGames

[@danyoutube7491]

That save-locking menu is an interesting idea, I'd never seen that in any videos until now.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Part of what I was trying to do was to show the hardware and the software. rather then talk about the history around it

[@theflyingninja1]

This is a console I'd love to learn more about. I'd love a follow-up video!

[@callme_Sweetpea]

Excellent video! I really enjoyed it! :)

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Thanks I'm happy you enjoyed it, its a machine that people have written off so I really wanted to put more work into this to really show it off.

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

Lovely job. Simon the Sorcerer looks fantastic and Liberation is INTRIGUING! Marvellous stuff, especially the 256 colour mode which is gorgeous.

[@paulv5733]

I got one for xmas in 1993 as still have it now. I also had an Amiga 500+ along side it, At the time the CD media alone felt like a big leap forward, much faster loading times and no disk swapping was a massive advantage over the old systems and something overlooked by the other reviewers who just compare it to other CD based or cartridge based consoles. The cover disks on the magazines of the time were brilliant, packed full of PD games, multiple demos etc... Its major flaw was the derisory 1kb of game save space, i remember leaving Theme Park running for 2+ weeks as it was unable to save an in progress game, it really should have had a native floppy drive port to alleviate that issue. Nowadays its a great system with the cheap TF expansion boards and the ability to burn your own game compilation cd's. Also it fits in great with other retro consoles under the TV.

[@Dexter_GamingYTRoblox]

I’ve still got mine from launch with the fmv cart still have quite a few video cd movies

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Very nice! Those FMV carts are so rare now.

[@TheGalacticIndian]

Awesome video! Thankfully all V4 accelerators and V4 Standalone recently introduced 16 DMA-driven audio channels. 16-bit audio brings Amiga to another level😍

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Thanks. Wow, adding that many extra audio channels is amazing. would have been nice to have had them back in the day.

[@Pabloraster]

Very good video, thank you!

[@ChadDoebelin]

Hope to add one of these to my collection someday.

[@nicholsliwilson]

Simon the Sorcerer feels like a proto Discworld & I love it, Flink absolutely should have been bigger than it was thanks to it’s mechanics as well as it’s looks. Unfortunately the CD32 was doomed from the start, it wasn’t *perceived* to offer enough over & above the A1200 & the Amiga brand was a little long in the tooth when it launched, so it was realistically only going to appeal to Amiga & more generally Commodore fans, the add-on modules intended to turn it back in to an Amiga micro really show that, which is a shame because as you’ve shown here it was a pretty capable console. It definitely had shortcomings that, had they been addressed would have made it much more appealing, especially the save flash but it’s far from the only console to take that criticism but it was objectively a gaming focused Amiga 1200 & there’s actually nothing wrong with that. Easily my biggest complaint about the CD32 is, I can’t afford one & even if I did get one the cost of ownership with both games & add-ons is too rich for my blood. I could draw parallels with Amstrad GX4000 for what it was but that just feels mean. 😄 The parallels with the Saturn, with the inbuilt save flash & add-on VCD modal is quite a bit more favourable & it’s an interesting parallel? Great video, thanks.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Yeah Commodore didn't have the money to really support it, and they released it at the wrong time. but even with that it still sold in decent numbers in the UK, so it might have had legs if it could have stuck around. At this point the big issue is very much price, I got mine back in the early 2000s so paid a so much less then what they go for now 😁

[@alexojideagu]

I played Simon on the PC, one of the first CD rom games I played

[@shadowinthevoid]

The CD32 boot music lives in my head forever. I had the SX32 addon for mine (sadly dead) so I had all the advantages of an A1200 with CD support. Most games that supported saves also supported saves to floppy so that sorted the main problem too. It was a really great time just for magazine cover CD and PD compilations CDs like the Assassins collections too.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Yeah that would be a great combination to have, its a shame that the SX1 is dead!

[@Tech-geeky]

Yep, and now thanks to emulation I have that music permanently implanted :/ I wished i had a CD32, or all i ever had was an Amiga 500, A570 CD rom drive, a few 3.5' external floppy drives. and and Action Replay III cartridge. Got most of thm from school.. we were swapping and buying like crazy.

[@005AGIMA]

Only just got one this year and already, it's starting to make sense as a system (for games that do not require keyboard). It's a shame there are not more titles that make good use of the AGA, and the CD Audio Track medium though. But as a "lounge room Amiga", yeah, I'm beginning to gel with it.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Its a fun machine, its just a shame it wasn't on the market longer. I think we would have gotten more AGA titles and CD audio if it managed to last last a year or so being sold. it had more potential then it got a chance to show.

[@RetroGamesRediscovered]

Very interesting video, I've been considering a more modern PSU for mine. I'm always slightly scared when I power it on!

[@AmigaA-or2hj]

I’m still keeping my heavily expanded CD32! Over the years, I’ve added a SX-1 expansion module, hard drive, extra memory several floppy drives, and lastly, a FMV cartridge.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Its a great machine and that sounds like the best set of upgrades for it as well!

[@bandeeta0]

Awesome, you are very lucky! How (or where) can you found an FMV cartridge?

[@AmigaA-or2hj]

@@bandeeta0 I found it at a car boot sale.

[@enkiabzu5792]

I'll be completely honest I never heard of this system till a couple years ago,found out about from Adam Koralik's channel and have been strangely obsessed with this system ever since,Great video very informative thanks!!

[@mervynstent1578]

If you live in the states, it was never sold there!

[@enkiabzu5792]

@@mervynstent1578 Yeah that sucked.

[@spritesheets]

Great stuff, thank you

[@Szydencer]

Wait, there was an A500 version of Enemy Unknown? I always thought that there was only the AGA version for the Amiga 1200 and then this port for the CD32.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Yeah, the A500 version was even more cutdown and much much slower to play.

[@coffeecuparcade]

I've never seen a CD32 in person. I really would love to experience one someday. The only OG Amiga I ever used was the A500 which I used for Eye of the Beholder development at Westwood and the A1000 I bought from a co-worker so I could work from home as well and play some games. Ended up selling the A1000 (dumb move) to fund a Neo Geo back then when I was moving onto console dev. Wish I hadn't done that. These days I still develop Amiga games but i'm using a MiSTerFPGA with MiniMig Core. Loved the video, truly love the Amiga!

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Oh wow, that's quite cool! I never played the first Beholder but had the second one, so if you worked on that as well then I've seen your work 😁 Great to hear that you are still developing Amiga games!

[@coffeecuparcade]

@@GouldFishOnGames Yes I was also on EoB II. Glad you enjoyed it! The last Amiga game I helped with was "The Shadows of Sergoth". Turn based dungeon crawler, we ported the Amstrad game 😃

[@cubdukat]

I actually did see one up close, but not in action. It was one of the ultra-rare gray-market NTSC models. Unfortunately, the store didn't have anything to demo it with.

[@Jon867]

Great video. A schoolfriend of mine had one in 93/94 and as an A500 owner at the time I was quite impressed, but by that stage Doom might have already been released or it was certainly just around the corner. Console-ising the A1200 wasn't a bad idea, and if Commodore's finances were in better shape it, together with a CD-ROM for the A1200, could have seen them through 1994. But the PlayStation was released in December that year and by that stage they'd have desperately needed new 3D capable hardware.

[@valenrn8657]

For Amiga's core EU market, PSX was released on the 29th of September 1995.

[@Jon867]

@@valenrn8657 yeah, but I don't think the CD32 would have continued to sell in Europe once people realised the PlayStation was coming soon and could see its potential. If memory serves the PlayStation was getting a lot of hype in games magazines well before its release.

[@ArneChristianRosenfeldt]

@@Jon867and absorbed all good developers

[@StayCoolKeto]

*Thumbs up and a sub! I love anything Amiga! this was a good video! not heard of all the games! and UFO one of my fave games ever! cheers!* 👍💪

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Thanks, happy you enjoyed the video. I've done quite a few Amiga game reviews over the years so hopefully you should find a few other new games!

[@StayCoolKeto]

@@GouldFishOnGames No probs! Just having a butchers at some of them now

[@StreetFighterAlfil]

Una consola casi desconocida pero fue una de las primeras en 32bits. Ahi te sigo y recomiendo. Si queres mira lo que hago. Saludos y exitos!

[@V3ntilator]

I have Elsat Promodule for CD32. It has internal floppy, Extra RAM Slot, 3.5" HDD Unused FPU Slot (I use 40.Mhz), Serial, and Paralell, PC Keyboard support and probably more. I had SX-1 first, but Promodule were the best of them all. I think Elsat were a cable company in Poland who made it. I remember them sending me a free ROM upgrade too.

[@kildogery]

I just discovered your channel and this is the 3rd video I've watched, but it's only the first time I've seen your beard. I feel scissory.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

I've not stuck my self in the videos quite as often this year. Its about 76cm (30 inches) long, so no one is getting close with a set of scissors!

[@kildogery]

@@GouldFishOnGames I admire your commitment. I stick to between 6 and 8. It's supposed to be less hassle 😂 Anyway, sorry dude, I was just taken aback. Great content and happy new subscriber. Promise to show it again in future. I want plaits and flowers.

[@CrazyArtEducator]

Very nice video about the device. Nearly got my hands on one for 245€ last year. Commodore's desicion to leave all fast memory out from A1200 and CD32 still buggers me! :D

[@timdaeleman]

Great video! What's the animation with the flying 911 at the end of the video? I believe it's the Sachs drawn 911, but I never saw this animation.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

I found it on the Dangerous Streets / Wing Commander CD. Labeled: "Demo: About Amiga CD"

[@timdaeleman]

@@GouldFishOnGames Cool, thanks!

[@nicholasthetaylor]

There is indeed a disc version of Flink. Quite amazingly, the graphics are the same on the Amiga 500 version as they are on the CD32

[@RetrogradeScene]

Always thought the CD32 looked cool. Still not had a chance to play on one. Great video!

[@neilbiggin]

You have killer taste in music 😉 You can imagine for musicians it was a dream come true, allowing us to include full CD tracks. Most games, like Zool and Mansell, we added a full soundtracks and perhaps a few gameplay tweaks. Unfortunately for Amiga, the PSX was on the horizon not long after and blew it out of the water. Still, I’m sure I’m not the only audio guy that loved it.

[@Tech-geeky]

it would have been better with CD quality audio for allot more. You could stick mod files on there.

[@nicosbrozzi9473]

The cd32 is still alive, the new games are beautiful... Reshoot R, for example and many others

[@GouldFishOnGames]

I really should have covered the newer releases for the CD32. There have been some interested ones.

[@werre2]

Bought one back in the day, sold it a couple of years ago.

[@Pai3000]

Wow! Thanks for not telling AGAIN the story of the machine and all the memes and focusing on the machine instead. Really appreciate it.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

While the history is important, it does tend to over shadow the machine. So I'm happy you enjoyed the video.

[@marcraygun6290]

So since they are generally named after b52s songs is this named after the siouxsie and the banshees Track?

[@gbraadnl]

2320 never seen this one. I myself have an SX32 for my CD32. Never been able to use it, as I suddenly left Europe. It is still on my todo list to actually try.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

It's a bit of an odd addon, never been quite sure who it was aimed at. having a SX32 is nice, hopefully you get a chance to give it a go

[@gbraadnl]

@@GouldFishOnGames they made the cd32 an alternative to upgrading an A1200. I did this and it was more expensive. So, yeah. It was a niche product. They have been used for kiosk systems. I believe the AHB has an entry for this.

[@mattx5499]

Amiga CD32 gained value after years later when fan compilation CDs appeared containing dozens of classic Amiga games, demos, music etc. That is super convinient having like 50 well selected games on 1 CD. If you got a mouse you can even play games that make use of it. Keyboard is also convinient it you want to have full control over games that use keyboard keys for additional controls. BTW, some CD Audio music was really awesome. FMV were also nice addition. Too bad many games that were released first on Amiga floppies weren't enhanced to use the CD capacity to the max.

[@bowmanencore]

What surprised me about this console when I first started reading about it is how many games it has! Yes, ports abound, but for console gamers, they're essentially new games. Look at this: Amiga CD 32 - ~150 games, including compilations!; ~100,000 units sold Sega 32x - ~40 games; ~800,000 units sold The CD 32's ratio is incredible.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Yeah, One thing that you can say about the machine. and that was the developers were willing to put titles out for it. yes to start with it was just ports, some with barely anything added. but can you imagine what it would have been like if it was on the market for more then a year. and if it sold in decent numbers.

[@Tech-geeky]

Microcosm.. Super Stardust etc.. I guss when you add CD audio you can clarify it as 'new' even if the graphics remain the same.

[@unrealdevon]

The system was nice looking and it had some decent (although way to old to handle the competition) hardware in there. This console needed new developers to make cd32 exclusive games made exclusively for the console market. What we got was way to many 1200 ports and half arsed at that.

[@gumdeo]

Some impressive games for this forgotten console.

[@mal-avcisi9783]

the best console on the surface of the planet

[@GouldFishOnGames]

A very much misunderstood machine.

[@mal-avcisi9783]

@@GouldFishOnGames true

[@MarJay1980]

Perhaps someone who is into the CD32 even more than I am! I also have a TF328 and it just makes the machine for me. I can use it as a full Amiga with a PC keyboard, or I can play any of my old favorites via WHDLoad. It sits pride of place in my living room, unlike most of my consoles. I'm not sure there really ever was a 'killer app' for the CD32, what we needed was something just a tad superior to Doom in order for it to fly off the shelves. The supply issues and US patent problems really messed it up though, and in hindsight it was an A1200 with a CD drive bodged on, which probably wasn't going to cut it against the playstation etc.

[@valenrn8657]

US EPA overreached into the Philippines is a problem. Commodore shouldn't have moved the factory from HK to PH.

[@MarJay1980]

@@valenrn8657 according to David pleasance’s book, the Phillipines factory was built because the head of manufacturing for commodore USA had a mistress out there…

[@valenrn8657]

@@MarJay1980 I'm aware of the mistress story.

[@valenrn8657]

@@MarJay1980 David Pleasance’s book about the head of manufacturing's mistress was interesting.

[@cubdukat]

The closest you could get to that killer CD32 app would be "Microcosm." If I remember right, the CD32 was the only one that had the FMV intro. I believe the game was actually written for the CD32 first, then the other consoles got it later.

[@ronnymuir]

OctaMED! Jeso, blast from the past!

[@RetroSegaDev]

Excellent video! Amiga CD32 is a weird old format. It needed the Japanese devs for it to be a success really! It was a very Euro platformer-ish console :)

[@Tech-geeky]

..it would have sold in U.S if it wasn't for the awkward situation Commodore was in with bankruptcy.

[@a64738]

I had a Amiga CD32 with mouse, joystick and keyboard and also connected it to my Amiga 500 to transfer files. Sold it when I upgraded to PC for more computer gaming horse power .

[@Calculon1712]

Did you know the voice of the main character that had the robots in the intro to Liberation is voiced by Neil Morrissey of Men Behaving Badly and Bob the Builder fame

[@orcwarchiefreviews]

Want to ask you a question compared to all the other consoles that were out at the time which one was the true Beast which one was the one that out of all of them right out of the package was the most advanced system for the time

[@GouldFishOnGames]

I'd like to say the CD32, but I think we all know it wasn't. possibly the most powerful might have been the Neo Geo AES, but that was just an arcade in a console. the top console only machine might have to be the 3DO. Fast ARM based processor, 2mb of ram (like the CD32) and decent 2D hardware.

[@valenrn8657]

@@GouldFishOnGames 3DO (with ARM60 @ 12.5Mhz CPU power equivalent to 68030 @ 50Mhz) can play Doom. 3DO CEL engine can assist with sprite scaling for 2.5D game engines and texture perspective processing.

[@waynecuff3140]

Great system, wish I had kept mine. But Commodores problem to me was always sticking with the Amiga tech. With the Snes, Megadrive, PlayStation, Saturn, Neo, it didn't stand a chance in the end. If Commodore had invested in newer custom tech especially aiming for the console market, things might be lot different. Dont get me wrong though the AGA Chipset is damn good, check out Proxima 3 !!!

[@GouldFishOnGames]

It is a lovely system, that was just a little too late. Against the other 2D 16bit machines, the Amiga chipset and AGA could hold its own. it could and should have been improved more then it was (Paula really needed more sound channels). but against the next gen, yeah it was way behind. But Commodore wasn't willing to spend the money. They would rather it be in the pockets of those at the top. but that is another story 😉

[@mjp29]

I never knew this existed! Never seen one in the U.S.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

There is a whole history on why it never made it to the US, but it would have easily doubled the length of the video. the TLDR of it, was that Commodore couldn't afford to pay to use a simple patent.

[@moregamemusic]

One game you should check out is Brian the Lion on CD32. The game is also available on both A500 and A1200, but they have expanded the game with more levels and secrets on CD32. EDIT: I just saw you have allready talked about it :) take care.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Heh, never worry about recommending a game to check out. as I've learned from doing the various "Amiga Answer to" videos that there were far more games that I never knew about then I realised. and some of them have been ones people have told me to check out.

[@pnvgordinho]

The cd32 is the best way to play Amiga games, either by real hardware or emulation. I love it. The joypad is a little nit crap in terms of quality. Still waiting for a mini cd32.

[@Tech-geeky]

pass on the cd drive.. unless we're planning on those mini cd's... They would fit.. right?

[@pnvgordinho]

@@Tech-geeky If they would do a mini cd32, it would have a cd player. Like the mini A500 doesn't have a floppy disk player. It doesn't need it, it would only make it more expensive.

[@tullebob1683]

Great video. The cd32 is likely the best amiga games machine today, if it is equipped with terrible fire :) Then one can enjoy both cd games and whdload games in a nice package. With respect to Flink; I do not think that the cd32 version had an option to save the game, which unfortunately made the game terriblly flawed...

[@brianoconnell6459]

Spellbound being an 80s track, I suspect that was a reference to Siouxsie and the Banshees.

[@dddutch7335]

Loved this machine. Regretfully I sold it many years ago. Was a mistake.

[@youuuuuuuuuuutube]

Lesson learned: never ever sell your consoles.

[@maestro-zq8gu]

I still need to figure out what to do with mine.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

As always play games! so many lovely games!

[@Joliie]

25:20 if you could buy one, Commodore could not pay for the parts to make them, so they made a batch waited for the money from that batch to purchase the parts for the next ones... they sunk the ship at this point sadly.

[@picdriver]

I suddenly feel old!!! I went from zx spectrum...to amiga 500....to amiga cd32....to a 486dx32 pc...to ps1..then back to building my own pc's to this day.....NEVER a console user anymore. But the CD32.....I expanded it with the sx1 expansion module....adding keyboard/disk drive /mouse functionality...basically turning the console into a fully fledged Amiga 1200. The games you picked were crap btw..meant in the nicest possible way :) Cannon fodder.....bubble & squeak.....james pond/james pond 2 robocod.....fire & ice...Chaos Engine....albeit not exclusive to cd32.....I'm trying to forget Zool altogether lol..... Everyone basically had an Amiga 1200....Just needed the sx1 expansion....

[@Joliie]

the up to jump is just silly since the Amiga did support 2 buttons, dunno why it never caught on?

[@misterx2598]

I remember I was stunned of one of the games graphix when I saw Amiga Cd32 in a local game shop. I had only NES clone Dendy back then and even some simple 3D visuals were simply mindblowing for me asa kid. It was very expensive as I can recall. Years later I got my PS1, which was far more superior to the Amiga cd.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

coming from the NES I can imagine it being quite a jump. but yeah the next gen machines were a big step up, the CD32 was a stop gap machine at best.

[@1183newman]

first time i played xcom was on the playstation, i had amiga 500 but i believe xcom required a 1200 to play.

[@purplehaze2342]

It was basically an amiga 1200 in a different box, like the gx4000 a bit of a con in my eyes although I have to say I always wanted one haha

[@GouldFishOnGames]

I wouldn't call it a con, as they didn't pretend that it was anything other then an Amiga 1200. with a CDDrive, a few new tricks and a dedicated controller.

[@daishi5571]

The CD32 holds an odd position on how it is and should be viewed. When the Amiga was first being developed back in the early 80's it was a computer that could be scaled back to be a console. Yes I know it is said that it is the other way around, but Jay Miner already had an idea for a computer before he was brought in to design a console and only did so if he could design a computer also. And all through designing the system, it was designed as a computer foremost and he even said it could be stripped down to a console. So really the CD32 was the final form Jay Miner had designed for. As a console for the 90's it was missing some of the functionality that a console should have had, but what it lost out in that area it gain many times over with what was an incredible potential software library. A quick look on YT for the amount of Amiga VS Master System, Amiga VS NES, Amiga VS Genesis/MegaDrive, Amiga VS SNES and other systems shows how well the Amiga was comparable to consoles despite being a Computer! what other computer compared to consoles to such a degree in that time period.

[@Tech-geeky]

I think at the end of the day, it came down to profits.. Perhaps if Commodore had more money, and it wasn't a 'last minute attempt to save from failure", they could have made it. Besides, no one can predict what situation they will be in 10 years from now,

[@TheFusedplug]

I regret selling mine back in 1995 I'll try to get another. My two only gripes 1 CD ROM lid spring clip busted and cracked hinge 2 Lack of fast ram. I also replaced that awful controller with the fabulous Competition Pro one

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Yeah the flip lid wasn't as strong as it could have been, I think its the reason for most disc reading issues. and it very much so should have had fast ram as standard.

[@Blas4ublasphemy]

Microcosm looks and sounds a lot like Sewer Shark!

[@Tech-geeky]

love the amiga CD32 music intro.. However the point you made about "speedy load times" on CD, and your right. Most of the space on CD was wasted, so there was little reason to compress when you have 650MB to play with anyway, and it would double up to increase load times ten fold. Basically, compress when necessary, not because its become 'a standard'. I always wondered why CD gams never occupied the full disc, so ya this makes sense. I also think just because you have a CD medium, doesn't mean its "better" to convert a A500 port either.. The space is there, so why not use it .. Many Amiga 500 ports could have had AGA graphics, and many more with "CD quality audio". I actually tend to think some did not.. but the assumption was different. If you can say it about graphics you can also say the same about lack of CD audio as well... It wouldn't make much sense on CD, but if your not gonna improve the graphics alway on a particular port (i.e. Beneath A Steel Sky), makes the argument more valid. The only "better" side about this game on CD was the digitised speech. "That's it" I would have liked to see this game in AGA form for CD specially,. At the end of the day if the goal is to 'sell the console' for what it is,, you gotta put in the effort. But perhaps the entire thing was due to lack of profit anyway. Perhaps more CD32's would have been sold ? who knows.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

I think it was less compress as it was the standard, I think it was more the games loaders were written with it in mind as they always expected them to be on floppy disk. some of the games designed for the CD32 like Flink load so quickly. we have seen how things could have been better with WHDLoad patches that decompress the data as part of the install.

[@Tech-geeky]

@@GouldFishOnGames You lost me on that one. The reason you compress *is* to for more on floppy not the other way around.. If you compressed less as a 'standard', Amiga games wouldn't be as good/music etc.. You had loaders to help speed it up, but that's only to a point. The more you compress, the more it would take to uncompress. You wouldn't believe how long you'd have to wait for "de-crunching" screen to go.

[@Larry]

I sooo wanted a CD32 as a kid, they did look like the future back then. Gamesmaster promoting the hell out of them didn't help the situation. But it's silly they never went for a uniform box, I bet there was a lot of confusion people buying a bix box game, only to hope and open a bunch of floppy discs. Are there any modern mods to play games off a hard drive, as in one big enough to have a large library?

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Consistency was never Commodore's best feature, so just leaving it to the developers isn't all that surprising. I don't think they even took the regular cut for releasing games, they just let the publishers package and sell them like regular Amiga games. as all you needed was a single library in your startup sequence for the CD32 to load the games. As for modern upgrades, I showed off the TF328 which allows you to put a hard drive into the machine. an 8gb CF card can contain a large amount of the library. but its really just turning it back into a regular Amiga and letting you do all the normal WHDLoad things.

[@Larry]

@@GouldFishOnGames It would explain why the CD32 was so expensive at launch, Nintendo and Sega go for the Razors and Razorblade technique, selling the console off essentially at a loss, but making the money back on the games themselves. Same reason why the 3DO was so pricey too. Is 8gb the maximum size you can have for an HDD? I've got an ARMiga, and the entire Amiga library just about fits on a 16gb memory card.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

yeah, they were only interested in getting the hardware out and letting others handle the games. As for the hdd size, it can support larger cards but on the lower firmware you do need to partition the drives more. on later versions its all supported natively. I have an 8 and 16gb cards in my A1200 for example.

[@ChrisFranklyn]

I had Liberation on my A1200. I remember distinctly the 5 hour install time because it only had the flat textures on disk and needed to rendered them to the hard disk! Much like you I didn't have a damn clue what was going on even when I did get into it.

[@rgm4646]

CF cards wow, i haven't seen one of those in 20+years

[@GouldFishOnGames]

In the retro computer scene they are still quite commonly used. mostly because you only need a cheap almost passive converter for them to work via IDE. but they are slowly being replaced my SD to IDE converters as CF cards are starting to get quite pricey.

[@drxym]

I remember seeing one of these set up in a shop with an MPEG-1 decoder in the back, playing Star Trek VI on video CD. Interesting to see but the quality was atrocious, a pixellated mess, possibly the VCD had something to do with that but I can't see Amiga's palette helping any. Anyway, I think these things were doomed because most Amiga owners weren't going to throw away their collection of games for a machine which didn't have a keyboard, mouse, floppy drive or hard disk without the added expense of a bunch of kludgy peripherals.

[@daromirfirunsson]

I was an Amiga fan back then, but i know no one who had a CD32. The games were a bit disappointing. There was Microcosm and the rest were standard A1200/A500 games.

[@TheSudsy]

With an A1200 and a SCSI CD Drive - there was no need for this. But I suppose this was the beginning of the "console" gamer rather than the computer gamer.

[@matsv201]

To me.. the CD32 had the exact same problem as the A1200. It really wasn't a full upgrade. While they probobly could make due with the cpu, the lack of anyway to make something that look like 3d grapics in hardware, really was a killer blow. While ofcause, 3D accelerator for PC was very rare att this point, they on the other hand had a very fast cpu. The situation was very siffrent to 1985 when the 286 was super expensive and the 386 was pretty much unheard of. When A1200 (and well the A2000) come around, 386 was quite cheap even with fairly high core chock, and 486 was really avaliable, of more expensive. And by the time the A32 came along, the pentium, was not only common, but even at there second iteration. If cause compare this to the PS1 that is fairly simular to the CD32, while the PS1 does have a faster cpu, the main diffrance was the ability for 3d acceleration.

[@Tech-geeky]

Its a console.. The SEGA Megadrive wasn't upgradable, i don' t think any were. In short of SX addons and FMV

[@revenge1205]

The Amiga CD32 is the console that I never had any interest in owning to this day, but it probably has my most favorite startup of any console period. I wouldn’t mind having one, but dear lord, wtf is with the prices? I vaguely remember searching these up on eBay about 7 years ago and I could swear that they were much cheaper than what they’re going for right now. Not to mention there’s only a couple of listings on eBay, all of which are going over a thousand bucks. Definitely not worth it. You could buy a couple of Atari Jaguars with that price!

[@valenrn8657]

Amiga CD32's gimped by shared memory design halves CPU and AGA performance i.e. it needs 32-bit fast memory for the CPU.

[@mervynstent1578]

Just with one meg of Fast Ram doubles the speed!

[@plasmaastronaut]

An A1200 with the keyboard removed and the floppy replaced with a CD.

[@reboxtherapy]

There wasn't enough marketing. To be honest I don't remember any marketing for this. The only thing that I remember was an article near the back of e.g.m. or game pro.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Commodore was never great with marketing and they didn't really have the money to do a big campaign. I do remember seeing the advert once on TV but that was it.

[@paulpatrick885]

Commodore had the iconic cheeky advertising against Sega - To be this good would take SEGA ages. I had a standard A500 and a SNES by the time the CD32 launched. The CD32 was never on my radar but I do remember seeing them in the games shops of the day. The Japanese developed games available on the consoles were often much more polished than the euro software on the Amiga and CD32. Thanks for the really thorough overview of the CD32.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Thanks for watching, that advert was iconic! The thing about Japanese games vs euro games is that I tend to find those bigger more well known ones. had far more developers and a much higher budget, then the euro equivalents. Like check out the credits for SF2 on the snes and on the Amiga. the snes version had more artists working on the game then the whole team who made the game for multiple platforms. I think if the dev's were given more time, and budget things might have been more on par.

[@Vakantscull]

it's a shame that so many devs (not just for the amiga) saw all that extra disc space the cds gave and instead of using it to enhance gameplay they just went "let's just fill it with moooooooooovies!"

[@SuperVstech]

I remember the console ads, but being in the USA, not allowed to have it was infuriating… I wanted a 4000, but couldn’t afford one, loved my 500, and all the upgrading it took… the 1200Was never in stock at the computer stores, they all pushed the 3 and 4000… hopeful for the cd32, but it never panned out… sad to see the idiots at commodore destroy the company… ahh well…

[@GouldFishOnGames]

ouch, that seems like quite the annoying process to try and fail to get an upgrade from the A500. shame you couldn't get a 1200 or the 4000, both are nice machines.

[@SuperVstech]

@@GouldFishOnGames oh, I have several now. All but the tower variants from commodore… I’m a nut about the machines… I even have a 1200 tower! Still haven’t found a cd32 yet.

[@eijentwun5509]

The CD32 is the BEST single Amiga to own because ALL games work on it from Every Amiga. OCS, ECS, AGA, CDTV. I used to have a CD32 with SX32 Pro 50mhz and 50 mhz FPU 128mb RAM and I think 120gb HD connected to an SuperGenSX, ChromaKey Plus, MindEYE VJ device, DCTV with DCTV RGB adaptor and three 5" LCD screens that I used at a Night Club for VJ-ing....running SCALA MM400 and Elan Performer and MindEYE software along with mixing video with the SuperGenSX. One of My Created Videos with the ChromaKey...Live Dancers on a Bluescreen with Amiga gfx in the background (running in SCALA): kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5mok6Zse71jma8 Amiga CD32 was done SUPER dirty by Commodore. Should have been a Harder Shell, 6mb RAM and a 50mhz 68030 and the FMV card included.

[@grandmasterthefuriousfive7487]

When the cd32 came out we all had IDE harddrives and cd drive in our Amigas that's 1 of the reasons it failed it doesn't have any updates you can take a cd32 disc and run on a a1200 or a4000 I remember I had 14mb of fast ram at the time.. Cd32 kinda could not match my a4000 30mhz and 15mhz fpu

[@GouldFishOnGames]

IDE drives in Amiga's when the CD32 came out were not all that common. even less common were Amiga's with CD Drives, most for the A1200 came out after the CD32. Just the CPU upgrade for the A4000 would have cost more than a CD32, not to mention the cost of the A4000 as well. this was a console, with decent for the time (but not for what was comming) hardware is an affordable package.

[@grandmasterthefuriousfive7487]

@@GouldFishOnGames i just installed a random CD drive worked fine back the, I changed it though since, also when I bought my A4000 I bought it 30mhz with fpu before there even was a cd32

[@GouldFishOnGames]

@@grandmasterthefuriousfive7487 In a machine that cost upwards of 10 times as much as the CD32, with a CPU that cost more then the CD32. At this point most Amiga owners were still using an A500!

[@grandmasterthefuriousfive7487]

@@GouldFishOnGames not 10 times the cd32 cost 399usd on release in Europe where I'm from that's makes my A4000 with 4mb fast Ram 420mb ide drive 3 to 4 times more expensive I later installed cd drive lots xtra ram and bigger HD myself Anyway I remember playing it in the shop where I worked

[@GouldFishOnGames]

@@grandmasterthefuriousfive7487 looking up prices from the time its easily 5 times more expensive then a CD32. and that is for a basic 4000 with out a monitor or software. Add in those and it increases quickly in price. Is the A4000 more expandable, yes but then its a full computer. The CD32 is a console. and As a console its not bad.

[@Tech-geeky]

😆 "A mighty pirate"

[@shahneil84]

Mine favorites were Oscar, diggers and sleepwalker

[@Promilus1984]

Nah, It's just A1200 with CD-ROM and some functionality of separate ICs packed inside Akiko. They gave CD32 nvram but it was pretty small so it wasn't all that useful to hold saves etc. And without fast ram it did struggle to use both chipset and cpu speed up to the fullest. It didn't came with floppy interface so most of classic amiga games came with CD bundles (that's that "big" cd32 game base). And there was hardly any innovative game designed for CD32 alone. There were hardly any expansions (which is usually understandable but console specs should be amazing at the release date to cover for gradual improvement of PCs during next few years, the only different approach was SNES with base specs hardly adequate but with upgrades included on game cartridge). CD32 was not that long apart from 3DO and 3DO was better in any aspect (and still lost due to poor timing mostly). Most of the original team behind Amiga wasn't even involved in CD32 ;) I doubt Jay would say CD32 specs is something similar to what he had hope to achieve a decade earlier. At the time he drew up specs for ICS it was revolutionary and would let keep things going for many years to come (like it did with ICS from A1000 basically running games released up to mid 90s). AGA was introduced at least an year to late and A1200 specification wasn't all that good at the launch as 020 was already fairly old. It was still fairly cheap. And same goes with CD32. It was cheap but not impressive.

[@yuvraj01]

The CD32, was Commodore's Atari Jaguar, ie a system that wasn't what it proclaimed to be...this machine was no 32 bit powerhouse when you consider that it would have struggled to push out games that the 3DO could do....much less the 32x...this was Commodore's answer to the Sega CD which itself was a 16 bit add on and not a 32 bit add on....

[@valenrn8657]

3DO's ARM60 at 12.5 Mhz is pretty lame. ARM60 can provide a 30 MIPS peak at 30 Mhz, hence 3DO's ARM60 CPU at 12.5 Mhz is about 68030 at 50 Mhz🤣

[@yuvraj01]

​@@valenrn8657 irrespective of that the CD32 wouldn't have been able to do a game like Crash and Burn, Super Street fighter (on the level it was on the 3DO) much less a Need for Speed...

[@valenrn8657]

@@yuvraj01 kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWTOeWx6mbOtpKM Street Fighter 2 AGA prototype port.

[@valenrn8657]

​@@yuvraj01 3DO has a 50 MB/s system bus and its capabilities are limited by this factor. 3DO's custom chips shift the bottleneck towards the memory bandwidth since 12.5 Mhz has about 12.5 MIPS. Ideally, a 50 MB/s bus should deliver 50 MIPS. 3DO's math co-processors are fixed point and quadrilateral 3D.

[@Big5mokE719]

The only game I could see myself playing or even enjoying would be XCOM but I've got it on ps1 (I play it quite often) and flicky which I have on Sega CD (and hate to break it to you but it's not even close to Mario lol). This console seems like the 3do like it COULD of been good but never hit full potential.

[@callme_Sweetpea]

Hmm, S-video? That's interesting :) I know too little about the CD32 :/

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Its a weird one that they included S-Video, which almost no other Amiga had. but then left out RGB, which had been on the rest of the machines. Its a weird and wonderful mix of odd choices.

[@uberdude2555]

​@@GouldFishOnGames The french version of the CD32 console doesn't have S-Video but has full RGB, this was the latest Rev 4.1 CD32 motherboard made by Commodore in the last few months before they went under.

[@goldensyrupgamingshow2978]

I thought Yolkfolk was amazing and i've been playing since the first Spectrum Dizzy game

[@gregorysturge4917]

Two hundred and fifty six.

[@aderitosantos1695]

Sad japanese dont like them, could be great port arcade games from NeoGeo and capcom CPS, similiar processor Motorola

[@EpicNublet]

I had 2 of those when I was Younger with Really alot of games and expansions idk what i did with it because its a goldmine now wtf

[@filevans]

You spelt Motorola wrong at the beginning of the video

[@GouldFishOnGames]

After a year of the video being up, you are the first to spot it.

[@rodovanra6783]

I had the CD32 with SX32, the problem was commodore was out of money, the CD32 was old when it came out, the CPU was starved from lack of fast ram even 1 meg would been better than no fast ram, it had no 3d acceleration at all. If the CD32 was released 1990 it would been very good, here is my fantasy Amiga 32 build, 1993, realistic specs edition, blow the SNES and Sega mega drive edition out of the water. For that i think a 68030@25mhz, 2 megs of fast ram, 2 megs of chip, some kind of very simple polygon drawing capabilities, lets say enough to draw lets say 120k raw polygons per second with thousands of colors. If the CD32 could done that I think it could have survived for a few years.

[@GouldFishOnGames]

Yeah, if Commodore had more cash I think the CD32 would have stuck around a little longer. still amazing how many games it managed to get, and how many were released after it was technically dead. As much as I think the machine should have had more ram and possibly more specs, I doubt they could have gotten it out in a decent time or price.